Cooking in the rain

[Ben]

Hi everyone!
I haven't posted much lately but am on most days, reading all of the interesting threads here!

I am going on an overnight hike with my wife and a couple of friends in the near future. It is winter here and rain is a high possibility. I was wondering how you guys/girls go about cooking at the end of the day if it is raining? I'm thinking of taking my s2s poncho tarp to set up for us all to relax under. I think it is around 1lb.
Also, on the same note. Cooking in the rain when I go with just my wife. We have only hiked in the warmer months but it's uncomfortably hot, we can drink up to 6 litres each on a hot day and water is a pain to find! Regarding this one, we use a Hubba Hubba HP at the moment and either a gram weenie or an msr dragonfly to cook on, depending how I feel when I pack.
Still new to hiking so I like to try out a lot of different gear. Although I doubt that will change much as I get more experienced as I loooove gear!!

Thanks heaps in advance :-)

Benen

[Bob Gross]

For sleeping purposes, I pitch a tarp so that the high point is about 40 inches off the ground. If it is a wind and rain storm, sometimes I pitch it slightly lower. For cooking purposes, I pitch a tarp very high between some trees, generally so that I can just stand underneath it. That is a lot more comfortable for cooking and eating. If it is extremely windy with the rain, I pitch it lower so that I can sit on top of my bear canister and still my head is beneath the tarp. It doesn't even have to be a fancy tarp. A simple flat tarp can be thrown over a taut cord between two trees.

–B.G.–

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

In rainy times I often carry a large but light umbrella and will cook under that – but that isn't practical for a group.
I do though have friends who carry a very UL and simple designed silnylon tarp and set it up quickly. Then you have a nice little shelter to get under! I suck at tarps so I am always happy if they want to bring it ;-)

[Greg Mihalik]

Since both you and your wife are using trekking poles, go with a 3m x 3m silnylon tarp at about a half kilo. If you are traveling in trees pitching is easy. If you don't have trees then the trekking poles will get the job done nicely.

Either way you have a spacious shelter for cooking and waiting out the rain.

[HkNewman]

For guaranteed hard rain, go with a tarp. I tried cooking spaghetti in a severe Colorado thunderstorm just using a rainjacket, hunched over for a shield. Burned holes in both sleeves, trying to blow my nose and having the pouring rain send it into my cooking pot. It wasn't a good evening.

[te – wa]

get with one of your hammock mates and see how they do it.
a tarp can be pitched over 1 or both (in "porch mode") if your wife joins you, and you can cook directly from it. this is especially great in winter, you can lean over and get your coffee going.

for anything a new gear fiend would ever want to know, check out this video series: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7NZVqpBUV0

[James holden]

i just use a jetboil … rain … pffftttt …

[Ben]

Thanks heaps everyone! You got back to me so fast. Since we're sharing the weight of the tent and cook gear, carrying a .5kg tarp is no big deal so I'll give it a go and see how it works out for me.

Thanks again

Benen

[Steve Cain]

A picture is worth a thousands words, no?

Porch mode:

[Greg Mihalik]

If bears are an issue, I'd set up Away from my tent.

YMMV.

[Roger Caffin]

> how you guys/girls go about cooking at the end of the day if it is raining?
Pitch tent – it has a good vestibule.
Sit inside tent on mats, get changed into dry clothing, cook in comfort.
But note we do not have bears here in oz.

Cheers

[Erik Basil]

This is a cool discussion with the potential for some great insights. Normally, I'd cook in the door of my tent, with my poncho tied off and staked out as a tarp over the door area. However, now I need to come up with methods and setups to cook nowhere near "the tents".

So far, I am filled with a combination of dread and desire for the cost and utility of some rainflys I might use with trekking poles or corded between trees, etc…

[Dale Wambaugh]

Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmbrella!

[Ben]

Steve, that porch photo looks like a really great setup! I think I'll give something similar a go with a poncho tarp and a couple of trekking poles and see how it pans out for us. If I like the way it works then I'll look at a tarp lighter than 320 grams.

[Adam Kilpatrick]

Sorry to catch your thread a bit late Benen.

I'm an Adelaide boy too, I've been bushwalking for many years in SA and elsewhere.

To be honest, I wouldn't be too concerned about cooking in the rain. It very rarely happens that its actually raining in South Australia when its time to cook! Especially the further north you go, number of rain days is very very limited. I can only actually think of a couple of times when there has been some rain around whilst we've been cooking in camp in SA-and bushwalking season is over winter. Few tips to make it more bearable when it does happen, without having to carry extra equipment for the (rare) time it happens…

…obviously wear your jacket (and rain paints if you use them…we never carry those though)
:-)
…camp in a sheltered position, cook in a sheltered position. This is obvious, but sometimes its overlooked or not thought about. It can make a big difference to how warm, dry, calm it is in camp. On a side note, the same goes for when you have rest breaks.
…one of you can be in the tent, preparing food and doing tasks to help the person outside, while the other is outside cooking. Teamwork always speeds things up.
…cook in the lee/underneath a tree. Native pines in the Flinders probably have the thickest canopies. River red gums can be good too down in gorges, though be careful to avoid them in high winds and never camp underneath them as they drop branches.
…just be efficient about cooking. Once you get more experienced packing your pack and pitching camp, using your stove set-up and cooking on it, you'll find that you aren't outside cooking for very long anyway.
…often you can get your meal almost cooked, then cover it in a lid and warm jacket (careful not to melt anything) and bring it straight in the tent, allowing you to put out your stove and get inside sooner. The warmth left in the pot and food will finish the job.
…I'm sometimes lazy and leave some things outside in the rain, like my pots, stove, water bottles/bladders, etc. Meh, animals aren't really a problem just about anywhere in SA (watch for Ants).
…Once you get more used to it (and if you are careful about fire safety and ventilation) you can cook carefully in your tent vestibule. Keep it as clear as possible, be really careful with lighting and fuel leaks, etc. This is common practise by bushwalkers in the snow, in bad conditions in Tasmania (pretty common there…), etc.

Good luck :-)

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